Anxiety, Depression, Body Mass Index, Physical Activity in Nomophobic Italian nurses: a chronic latent inflammation?

Aim: To investigate which risk factors are strictly connected to nomophobia in Italian nurses, according to socio-demographic characteristics, Body Mass Index scores, physical activity habits, anxiety, and depression. Method: An “ad hoc” online questionnaire has been created and then administered to Italian nurses. Data include sex, age, years of work experience, shift work per day, nursing educational level, Body Mass Index, physical activity, anxiety, depression, and nomophobia conditions. Univariate logistic regression has been performed to explore what potential factors may contribute to the nomophobia condition. Findings: A total of 430 nurses agree to participate. No respondents recorded severe levels of nomophobia, as 308(71.6%) registered mild and 58(13.5%) registered moderate levels and 64(14.9%) reported no abnormal condition. Females seem to be more exposed than males to nomophobia (p<0.001); nurses aged from 31 to 40 years and also with less than 10 years of work experience are more affected compared to the other sub groups (p<0.001). Nurses who practice low physical activity reported significantly high levels of nomophobia (p<0.001) and nurses reporting high anxiety levels also suffer from nomophobia (p<0.001). The trend is inverse when considering depression condition since most of the nurses suffering from mild or moderate nomophobia levels reported the absence of depression condition (p<0.001). No statistical differences have been reported between nomophobia levels and shift work (p=0.269), nursing educational level (p=0.242), and BMI levels (p=0.183). Anxiety and physical activity report strong relationships with nomophobia condition (p<0.001). Conclusion: Nomophobia affects all individuals, especially young aged individuals. Although further studies on nurses will be implemented, including the workplace and training environments of nurses by allowing a clearer picture of the levels of “nomophobia” in general, as nomophobic behavior may have negative repercussions both in social and professional spheres.